The best things in life are NOT free…

The expression, “The best things in life are free”, may indeed be true, but not when it comes to business! Remember, in the business world, you get what you pay for…

“Put it on your portfolio”

Imagine you own a hair salon. What would you do if a client came in, asked for a colour, cut and blow wave, and then added “I can’t pay, but you can add it to your portfolio…”

You would send them out the door, right? Why? because your profession, time and effort is worth more than that. The same can be said for any self-respecting business owner. You wouldn’t de-value your product like that.

The creative industry is a hard one to be in, because very few people recognize the process that leads up to the final product – be it a Facebook page, a website or even a piece of writing. The ABSOLUTE WORST phrase to hear is “If you do this for me, you can use it for your portfolio”. Funnily enough, this most often comes from friends and family members, expecting a freebie. This is a bit of a slap in the face, because it basically says “your service is not worth paying for”.

I once quoted a client for a basic 4 page website. My rates for this are fairly normal, for the industry (R5000). Yes, you can probably get similar services cheaper, but you’ll have to compromise on the quality or turnover time (or both). I offered him our R1000 off Winter Special to top it off. What a deal, right? Well, the client didn’t seem to think so, after he asked how long it would take… When we told the client that we could be done with the first draft of his website within 3 days, he didn’t seem impressed.

“R4 000 for 3 days work? That seems harsh?”

As if it would have been better for me to tell him that his website would only be ready in a month or two?

“My friend said he could do it cheaper”

Those in the creative industry have trained for YEARS to be able to produce quality products in limited time. And it’s not something any Joe Soap can do, or I would not be making a living from it.

If you aren’t willing to pay for these services, then by all means, you are welcome to pay your way through an education and build up the years of experience to produce a product of similar quality yourself. Your perfect digital product should be ready in about… oh… ummm… five to ten years? May the odds be forever in your favour…

If you are a Freelancer and battling with setting and getting your prices, you will relate to this article 1000%Check out the BOSSVISION Retreats and Live Training Workshops to learn how to master this fuckery!

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